Close enough can no longer be good enough for a young Tigers team on the rise

<big>Close enough can no longer be good enough for a young Tigers team on the rise</big>
Dean Ritchie and Nick Campton, The Daily Telegraph
October 31, 2016 6:00am

The Tigers are always a team filled with promise but coming close enough can no longer be good enough at Concord.Daily Telegraph journalists Dean Ritchie and Nick Campton give their final verdict on the Tigers.

By DEAN RITCHIEWhat went right:

Wests Tigers won back some much-needed credibility this season. In the end, the club fell just one win short of making the semi-finals. Coach Jason Taylor’s decision to banish Robbie Farah appeared to work when the Tigers made a late and exciting dash towards the semi-finals. A final round loss to Canberra killed-off their dreams. Aaron Woods continued to evolve into a world-class prop, fullback James Tedesco has become one of rugby league’s most exciting players while halves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses have had another year together. The future finally looks clear.

What went wrong:

Another season, another failure, another drama. As close as they came, Wests Tigers still missed playing final footy again. It’s becoming an annual event. Being close enough isn’t good enough. The Taylor-Farah saga continued to damage the club, on and of the field, while young halves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses still haven’t the experience to totally and efficiently manage a tight game of footy. Wests Tigers may well play finals footy next season but a premiership still looks many, many years away. Mark O’Neill being sacked as head of football completed another disappointing season at Concord.

By NICK CAMPTONWhat went right:

James Tedesco continued his rise as one of the best players in the competition while Mitchell Moses started to become the player many expected him to be. Despite a poor showing in the final round against Canberra, the club did well to remain in finals contention until the last week of the season. Chris Lawrence continued to blossom in the second row and Elijah Taylor was an inspired purchase. Regardless of the outcome, the end of the Robbie Farah saga is the best result for both club and player.

What went wrong:

The Farah saga cast a shadow over the club all year and ended in bitter fashion for both parties. Luke Brooks wasn’t able to string together much consistent footy and seemed to take something of a step backwards while the club is yet to re-sign the impressive Taylor. As said above, the Tigers did well to be in finals contention for so long but their 52-10 capitulation against Canberra at a packed Lecihhardt Oval was nothing short of embarrassing.

2 years isn’t that much time really when you’re cleaning up the messes of the past and totally changing the culture of the joint. If we make the 8 this year I’ll be happy because anything is possible from there. I’ll enjoy the offseason though because the naysayers will be back out in force come Rd 1

I absolutely agree with the premise of the article - I was arguing last year that the youth and inexperience excuse wasn’t a valid one (to which our captain agreed), and it absolutely has no place in 2017.
That said, how neither of the guys mentioned our defence as one of the cons is slightly bewildering, but then again it is the Telegraph (Dean Ritchie is absolutely stealing a living).

Its seems pretty fair and makes sence, but the one thing that sticks out to me is ‘we failed again’.

My biggest concern is where does the improvement come from?

How can Teddy & Moses improve in 2017?
Does ET improve in 2017 or does he remain the same consistent forward he was in 16?
Will Woods become a super-prop freak to get us more in the middle?

We already know what these people can do. What around them is going to change in 2017 to change the one consistent we have had for 5 years - ‘we failed again’?!

Moses needs to take control when it matters. Had a much better year but still cannot control a game. Brooks needs significant improvement. Idris for the Fresh Prince is speculative but Idris is a much better all round player when at his best. Aloiai needs to step up, ET needs to be encouraged to play at the line like he did when he first signed on and Lawrence needs to come off at the 50-60th minute, he’s spent late in the game.

I reckon the class of the comp next year is going to be Melbourne, Canberra, Penrith.
Next level down will be Brisbane, Cronulla, the Roosters, maybe the Cowboys.

One or two of those might flop, but fundamentally the Tigers are - if they’re lucky - in the mix of teams playing for 5th-8th. Parra, Souths, Manly, the Warriors, the Titans, the Bulldogs. You can make a case for any of these to be bad probably more easily than you can of them winning the comp.

There’s only really the Knights and Dragons that I’m pretty confident of finishing above based on class.

Agreed, a fair assessment. If the players get the mentality of ‘next year will be the year for the young guys to step up’ it will always be the year after or the year after that. My point is, it will never happen. They need to have the mentality that they are already experienced first graders and hopefully their actions on the field will finally follow for 26 rounds +

Its seems pretty fair and makes sence, but the one thing that sticks out to me is ‘we failed again’.

My biggest concern is where does the improvement come from?

How can Teddy & Moses improve in 2017?
Does ET improve in 2017 or does he remain the same consistent forward he was in 16?
Will Woods become a super-prop freak to get us more in the middle?

We already know what these people can do. What around them is going to change in 2017 to change the one consistent we have had for 5 years - ‘we failed again’?!

We would expect that our younger players, based on the first grade experience they have already gained, will mature enough to make the team a much more consistent outfit. Not the outfit we have been used to where they play spectacularly to win a match one week and then dive into the doldrums to usually lose the next match. The ball in 2017 is at the feet of our younger players. Have they matured enough or do they still consider themselves as “babies”.